A Spanish Ring knot in black paracord dresses the join of the knot which covers the neck with that covering the shoulders.

The shoulders are covered by a double Gaucho knot of 2 passes. This knot does a good job of following the curves of the bottle — but without the knot on the neck of the bottle as a stopper, it would have ended up on the neck rather than the shoulders. There appears to be no way to make the lower part of the knot hold tightly enough to stop this creeping.

A thin 3 Lead X 13 Bight Turks Head carries a Chinese button knot with the ends left long as a simple tassel.

The body of the bottle is covered by a Headhunter knot of 2 passes, tripled. I like the look of this knot, and it provides an excellent gripping surface.

The bottom knot is a Gaucho knot of 2 passes.

Thank you for coming by. I would appreciate your thoughts on anything on this site. Come again:
William

The flow of hot sauce bottles meanders on. This is the next logical step after the new-to-me knot on this bottle.
At any rate, on with the show! The knots used on this bottle were:

On the cap is a 5 Lead X 9 Bight Turk’s Head knot in the now traditional black paracord.

The neck of the bottle has a mouse made of some sort of Turk’s Head. The knot you can see is a Herringbone knot worked on a base Turk’s Head knot of 9 Leads X 8 Bights.

The shoulders of the bottle are covered by a Gaucho knot of 2 passes.

The next knot is a twisted and laid up 3 strand grommet. This carries 1″ length of Solomon’s Bar Square Knot Sinnet. The sinnet is capped by a Chinese Button Knot / Sailors Knife Lanyard Knot – your choice of names – doubled. All the ends from the sinnet and the button are led up through the center of the button and trimmed to make a tassel.

The body of the bottle is covered by three 7 Lead X 6 Bight Turk’s Head knots, doubled. They are made of alternating colors of black and white paracord. The edges of each are interlaced in a wave-like pattern that, when done on each side of the center knot, reminds me of the fingerweaving pattern called “Flame”.

After the hundreds of thousands of years that millions of people have played with string, you have to be careful about claiming novelty. This is new to me, but maybe I just don’t get out enough. Perhaps it is the latest thing in blue jeans and I missed it. I do have to admit that the concept of calling this a flame pattern is from the Native American Indian fingerweaving – on their sashes they call a pattern much like this a “flame”.

I would like to know what you think of this bottle. Is this edge interlacing new, or just new to me? Thank you for coming by and staying long enough to get through this:
William

After being so surprised by the Pineapple knot coaster, how could I resist making one out of a Gaucho knot? It is not as structurally sound as the Pineapple knot, but the visual is dramatic … to say the least.

In the normal run of things this would be your typical tubular Gaucho knot with a vertical white lightning bolt flash. I have to admit that the look surprised me. I just hadn’t followed the thought to its conclusion before I started working the knot flat. Giving a set of these to someone who drank too much would be a cruel joke.

The knot is firmer than a Turk’s Head mat, but not as firm as the Pineapple knot mat. If I had to chose, I would take the Pineapple knot for both utility and visual appeal. Who knows, I may find someone who just loves these and wants a set of 48 for their next bash.

One of the puzzles I must solve is what else to tie knots on? My frugality balks at not saving some of the better knots, particularly when I have used the same line to tie so many practice knots that it is fuzzy. I could tie several more knots with the same line and eventually have to throw that piece away. Or I could try to tie a single, really good one and put it on something that would benefit from the addition.

The problem is an eventual lack of things about the right size that don’t already have knots of their own. Some end up having multiple layers of knots – if the latest one is sufficiently better than the last …. over it goes. The lesser knots have been sacrificed to the gods of decorative knots and cords and, though forgotten and unseen, are not gone but live on through their utility.

The Lady Rose is generally understanding of this process, and occasionally takes advantage of it. Her latest request was for a new fob for her key chain. It had several requirements which, once met, left enough room for artistic effort to satisfy my urge to tie.

The requirements were:

To be done in white paracord to make it easy to see.

To be have a distinctive feel and be large enough to find easily by touch in a purse.

The knot should be tied with an open weave, over an attractive core, because she likes that look.

It should be one of my tight knots so that it won’t come undone.

This is the knot that came about. A Gaucho knot of 2 passes. This ends up by count as a knot of 12 Leads X 11 Bights and over 2 under 2 weave done over a 1″ wooden bead. By habit I don’t count or specify the Leads or Bights of a Gaucho knot … should I? This is just a habit I fell into because they are hard to count, and before the birth of the It’s Knot Art Blog only I needed to know. There was no one else interested, so it wasn’t worth the effort. Do you want to know? If so leave a comment and I shall start posting the count.

The Gaucho knot was cranked down so hard that it is difficult for some to believe it is not a wood carving done as a gimmick poser.The ends were led out and tied in a 1″ long Solomon’s Bar sinnet. The purpose of this was to allow her to hold the ball in her hand and let the keys dangle between her fingers. This makes a secure hold, but still allows the use of the hand to carry something else also. The reason for the Solomon’s Bar instead of a two strand loop is that the structure of the sinnet improves both the security and comfort of the grip. A two strand loop having no structure is harder to have fall in the right position without having to juggle & jingle it.

There is a very small loop to allow the split ring on the key chain to be attached. This is followed by a Sailor’s Knife Lanyard Knot ABOK #788 doubled. Some call this the Chinese Button doubled knot ABOK #601, but structurally they are the same knot. The ends are left long and trimmed to give a casual two strand tassel.

She is happy … so I am happy. But a Question lurks, hiding until I’m ill prepared and then creeping up on me in the dog watches, and asking in weaselly, whiny voice: “Well that was OK, but was that really the best you can do? All the knots, braids, plaits and sinnets you know or could look up and you use that one!” I would like to better my skills. To do that I need input, advice and guidance. No matter what you use or who has inspired or guided you, you could be a someone who ties knots or someone willing to voice your opinion about how they look. Either is equally valuable to me. Either is equally welcomed by me. I await your pleasure … and your comments.

Thank you for spending the time and effort it takes to visit my site. I also appreciate that; after all that is also input. Come again:
William

I again asked The Lady Rose if she had any requests. She said she wanted something new and different. In an avocation as old as this one, and with as many of my knots as she has seen, I had to think hard. What I came up with was this, the same old Turk’s Head knots, but with a new treatment. If you look at the border between the black Turk’s Head on the bottom of the bottle and the white Turk’s Head just above it, you will see my idea in action. The two knots encroach into each other, but in a very regular and even fashion. This makes for an alternating wave interface that is – to me – brand new.

The usual knot inventory starts here:

The white knot at the top is a 5 Lead X 6 Bight Turk’s Head knot, doubled.

The knot covering the shoulders of the bottle is a Gaucho knot of 2 passes, 17 Leads X 6 Bights.

Below that is a bi-color Turk’s Head knot of 4 Lead X 11 Bights, doubled with 1 white and 1 black paracord.

The featured knots on this piece are a pair of 7 Lead X 6 Bight Turk’s Head knots. They were tied so that they encroach – or interlace – their edge bights. This makes for a very unusual cresting wave look. The only problem is now I’ll have to do more of these Teufel Knoten.

I would even more than usual like to know what you think about these knots. Have you ever seen the like before, or is it new to you also?

Vertical down looking view of a bi-color drink coaster made from a Pineapple knot.

I used to make drink coasters out of 1/4″ cotton sash cord. Because of the decline in use of double hung windows and their sash weights, sash cord is now uncommon, and thus expensive. In trying to make a proper drink coaster out of paracord, I have made many weak and floppy knots. The ones I made by working the tightened knot into a U shape were tight and strong, but the decrease in diameter was a problem. The other day I was tying knots as I watched TV. When I inverted the Pineapple knot I had made, it worked and worked well. The interweave meant that the knot was not only doubly thick but that the cords filled up the interstices in each knot. When I worked it down to a coaster shape it made a firm, thick platter. If I were going to do it again to make a coaster for general use, I would start off with a Turk’s Head having more leads, whick would increase the diameter to about 4″, a fair size for most coasters. You could also dress this up greatly by putting in another interweave similar to those in most heel knots. The multi-colored and tight weave would be both bold and attractive. The only caution I would offer is to make the original knot either looser than normal, or maybe in a funnel shape. Trying to invert this knot offered more challenge than most Turk’s Head knots for the same reasons it makes a better coaster: it is double thickness and the gaps are pre-filled before you even start.

I would like to hear from you if you try this coaster idea; the more information shared the better. Thank you for visiting my site, come back again:
William